March 12th, 2006
The mental typewriter
Check out the Berlin Brain-Computer Interface, also known as the "mental typewriter." Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute in Berlin and Charité, the medical school of Berlin Humboldt University, demonstrated the device at CeBit last week. The user mentally controls the cursor to type messages. The non-invasive electrode-laden headgear translates mental images of left or right arm to move the cursor. The researcher are working on a commericial version of the technology to help disabled patients, according to the NewScientist.com article.
Dan Farber, editor-in-chief of CNET News.com, has more than 20 years of experience as an editor and journalist covering technology. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
